2020 Boettcher Scholar Cassidy Simpson reflects upon her college application process and helpful tips and tricks she found along the way. Utilizing the book, All the Wisdom and None of the Junk: Secrets of Applying for College Admission and Scholarships 2.0, Cassidy emphasizes the tools that helped her succeed in college applications and beyond.
To continue sharing the wisdom, the Boettcher Foundation is thrilled to invite you to celebrate the launch of our revised book on scholarships and college admissions! On August 27, join fellow students, families, educators, and community leaders at East High School for a dynamic program featuring a book overview, community panel of college students and experts, discussion, prizes, delicious food and refreshments. RSVP here.
One of the themes in the book is being yourself instead of trying to be perfect. How did that advice show up in your essays or interviews?
This advice to be myself really showed in my essays and was my key focus in my interviews.
Because of the book I was able to have an incredibly genuine scholarship interview where I shared a recent personal challenge which guided the entire interview.
One interviewer asked a follow-up question asking for advice for a friend who was going through something similar. This really helped me to connect with my interviewers on a personal level and not just share my academic and extracurricular achievements.
Can you give us a story about one tip from the book that you actually used—and how it changed your approach to an application?
One of the tips I used was to talk about things I was genuinely interested in and not just something I thought reviewers would want to see.
As a result, I centered one of my essays around my favorite family activities – playing Settlers of Catan. This essay really stood out to interviewers, and I got to talk about the game in my interview. I even collaborated with some interviewers to explain it to others!
This really helped brighten my application and interview, letting me show my nerdy and fun side.
What’s an activity you genuinely loved in high school, and how did the book help you see its value in your applications? Was there an activity that seemed “small” but, thanks to the book, you realized it was worth mentioning in your applications?
One thing I really loved in high school was my participation in girls’ basketball.
I figured this wouldn’t be something important to talk about in my application because everyone does some kind of extracurricular activity like that.
But the book’s tip about finding the “so what” helped me pull some incredibly important lessons from my time in basketball so I could talk about something I was so passionate about in a meaningful way.
How would you encourage a high schooler to choose activities they truly care about instead of just trying to build a resume?
Something the book mentions is emphasizing depth of activities. I think this was helpful in describing how meaningful my involvement was in high school
There were some activities in which I LOVED participating, so I dedicated lots of time and energy to them. Brain cancer research funding, basketball, and student council were all very important to me. It didn’t matter what they were, it just mattered that I cared about each of them and therefore wanted to dedicate lots of time and energy to them. That way, when I was applying, I could be genuine in my essays, and the passion would shine through.
Was there a “weirdly specific” piece of advice from the book that seemed small at the time but ended up being a game changer?
If I am bored writing it, they will be bored reading it.
This advice made me really think before choosing my essay topics. If I didn’t know this, I would have written about topics that seemed prestigious that I didn’t care as much about.
Following this assumption would have tanked my interview because my personality and passion wouldn’t have come through if I was being asked about things that didn’t truly excite me.
Finally, what’s the one piece of encouragement you want to leave with students who are about to begin this journey?
BE GENUINE!
If you are pretending to be someone or care about something that you don’t genuinely feel you are or care about, you are not going to end up in the right place. You want to end up where you belong and be surrounded by environments you can grow and thrive in. This won’t happen if you are being reviewed based on an application that doesn’t represent who you truly are.
There are so many opportunities in this world, and the ones you end up getting should be ones where you can thrive.
Cassidy is currently a J.D. candidate at Duke University’s School of Law and worked as a Legal Associate at a law firm in Denver this summer. She is CU Buff and a Colorado native, and she loves helping students succeed in college and scholarship applications.
